mrsquid Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Hi Raiders I couldn’t have imagined a better start to the weekend! Started by hooking up with my mate for a Friday afternoon Bait collections session. Although there’s nothing worse than placing the outcome of your entire weekends fishing on one nights squidding! Luckily after 3 hours of playing the squid game we wound up with 10 in the bag and high hope for the morning! We Made plans to meet at tunks at 4am, but when 12am ticked over I couldn’t wait anymore, with everything sorted all I had to do was jump in the van and go! Before I knew it I was idling away from the boat ramp nothing but stars and glassy water in front of me! I Headed straight to me new favour Place in the entire world, not too far from Bantry bay in about 23 meters of water. I dropped anchor just as the tide turned, so with 6 hours till daylight and high tide all I could do was wait, daydream of the big Jew that was going to take my bait any second now! And of course burly burly burly..... I had just curled up on the front bench seat (more like awkward foetal position) and closed my eyes, maybe dozing off for 5 min or so when without warning both my rods buckled over under serious strain!! Corking my knee on one of my oars as I leaped up I grabbed the closest rod and as quick as it began both rods went dead!!! Ahhhh I had kept my drag fairly tight hoping that the fish would hook themselves, not letting them run had seemed to work for me last week but that fishing! More burly and 20 min later with drag set to allow them the freedom so swim away and take the bait deep inside. What started as a slow taking of line of the spool quickly started to accelerate, I’m shaking as I pick up the rod! Straight away the weight and power of the fish load my rod and with one powerful run it stripped at least 50 meters of the spool. With my reel making all the noises I don’t want to hear I loosen the drag to let the fish run without testing my gear to much as I tried to retrieve it, With the initial run over slowly but surely I’m bringing it to the surface.... adrenalin is making me shake like a rattle snake, i’m trying to keep my cool, be patient and let the fish find its own way to the surface. All is looking good, even better than good! until tragedy strikes. I caught a quick glimpse of a slender shiny fish in my torch light, but just as the fish see the boat it makes a powerful run towards my anchor rope and with no time to get the pressure back on the drag I feel my worst possible feeling...snagged! Line pulled tight but clearly wrapped somewhere around my anchor rope, and within seconds it was all over!!!! AHHH devastated and bewildered, I’m starting to think I had used up all my luck last week and when after the next hour all was quite I pulled up anchor and heading back to Tunks to collect Mattie as planned! With Mattie still half asleep and complaining about how cold he is and how he regrets not wearing shoes and how Hungary he is bla bla bla ...... (Mattie doesn’t like morning) we’re back on the spot! With More burly and extra rod in the water all we had to do was wait! And we didn’t wait long. Before I could get comfy my rod loads up again and line screams of my reel. I was thinking maybe a big king but with 30lb braid and 40lb leader on a 6-8kg rod this fish wasn’t giving an inch with almost half my spool empty in a minute all I could do was hold on and put as much pressure as I dare! Again the fish started to let me take back line but every so often it was roar back into life taking back my last minutes effort and some more! With my arms burning and most of my line back on the spool I’m just starting to think I have won the battle! ... but ahhhhh just I see the dark profile of the small shark under the tinny it makes another powerful drive to the deep and my line breaks cleanly above the hook!!! Now this is getting out of control!!!!ahhhh fishing!!!!! As the light slowly spreads over the sky Matty wants to move over to where the sun will hit soon but I’m having none of it!! If there’s one thing I have learnt it is u got to be committed! Even though it was now allot colder than it had been during the night I was determined to see this through till the change of tide and beyond if necessary!! Finally Matty’s spirit rises when a lone kingy starts working its way around the cubed pillies, like a kid in a toy shop he rummaging through his bag looking for soft plastic of some sort! After a few casts and retrieves, the surface of the water is busted. Just as matty lifts the plastic out of the water, cm’s no mm’s behind a nice kingy makes a dramatic turn! Spewing missed it by seconds!!! But this was great fun. Meanwhile my bait has been soaking for 10-15 min or so without anything happening, so I half expected anytime soon it would be game on and boy was I right! Again there was a slow take of line of the spool which I let go for 10 or so seconds, I picked up my rod turned up the drag and struck!! Wow again the power of this fish is taking line like there’s no tomorrow and with the experience of the last 6 hours matty’s yelling let him take it! Let him take it!!! With the fish swimming away from the boat I felt safe enough to give it some time, keeping constantly pressure the fish turns and come back in the direction of the boat my second rod was still out to my left, but with matty on my right it would have to stay there! All I could do was hope it doesn’t get me into too much drama! I was now taking back more and more line but this fish wasn’t finished yet he must have been half way up the water column when he turned directly into my worst fear! The fishing line of my second rod. Matty yells it will be ok, my heart is pounding!!! My body shaking… but the fish turns again to my right this time away from the line. (Thank you god) Matty reaches for the gaff with sort of expectation of what’s about to come but straight away I say it won't be necessary. Seeing him gaff in hand make me nervous (as much as I love ya matty I can’t risk you losing my fish on your first ever gaff experience!!) and just then, a long silver flash darts sideways in front of us with my drag backed off once again to avoid any last minute disasters I get the beautiful JEWFISH up to the side of my tinny! Holding the rod in my left hand I reach out with my right and grab the powerful tail, securing my grip I pull the `glorious’ fish into the tiny! With hoots and high fives we celebrated my third ever jewfish! @71cm it was 6 or so cm bigger than my previous PB set this time last week hahaha AWSOME!!! I had lost everything up to this point but all was forgiven and forgotten this was turning into an epic all time fishing adventure. With more high fives and school boy antics we got the bait back in the water! This time I had on one full large arrow squid about 15 long it was all or nothing on a 10/0 hook!! Again unlike all my previous fishing experience, after a 2 min soak Bang it’s off!! haha (this is awesome) with a firm but relaxed strike I set the hook and the fish runs….. POP line goes slack ahhhhh (all I can do is laugh at this point!) I retrieve the line to see the knot with a no hook at the end, the eye of the knot had given way! Just another valuable jewfish lesson I had leant among many this morning! With traffic and noise from a wake boarding boat increasing and with big smiles from an awesome session we decide to troll back to tunks, and just in time, as I start my new u bute outboard the wind picks up from the south (my timing was hot today) We get back uneventfully, tired but feeling more alive than ever we pull up at tunks triumphantly again! (I could get used to this) What an epic session! Although I lost pretty much everything, even without my awesome catch I would still be stoked because I was crawling slowly along the learning curve that is Jew fishing. I think with more experience there could have been 4 or 5 good jewfish in the boat today but all is good, sharing the experience with a mate and feeling the action is priceless! Cheers for reading guys and good luck to all! Fast facts: Water temp: 19.1C Bait: fresh whole and squid strips Line/leader 20p braid/40p fluro on 6-10 kg and 4-6 kg rod Rig: swivel and light sinker running to the hook which is 4/0 and 10/0 Weather: clear Burly: pilchards/ jewfish carcasses Tide: fish caught 30min before high tide at 7am but there was action through all the tide stages from 1am to 8pm Moon:???? The jewfish was landed using squid strip on 4/0 hook but today everything was been attacked with big baits not an issue, there was lots of bait fish action on the sounder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen801 Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Excellent report and a bit freaky as I just got in from a session in the same area for a very similar experience. Jews were "on" but hard to hook up. Lost a whopper and managed one in the boat a bit smaller than yours. All hits only on fresh squid. When someone gets onto a good fish the deckies really have to have your back and get all lines out of water, net or gaff ready and be prepared to pull the anchor and chase it down etc. as those big Jews are easy to lose. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcpayne Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Great Jewie and excellent report. Enjoyed every moment of your fishing adventure. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reesn Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 You are the man. Fresh squid in middle harbour is Dynamite. Well done champion : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plankton Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Well done mrsquid! What kind of shark was it and would you use live Slimies for Jews? At present the harbour is full of pesky sharks, Wobbygongs, PJ's, Shovel Noses, Rays etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tide'n'knots Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 sensational report mate. persistence really paid off for you. every trip that you have success you will gain more knowledge, I would be fishing that spot of yours on a regular basis and you will find that it will consistantly produce jew fish - it certainly isnt a fluke that they are there if you have caught them on two different occassions. dont be frightened to lift anchor and idle after a big fish rather than go harder if you have to, far better to be inconvenienced for a while than lose the fish of a lifetime. well done. pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John C Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Wow what an awesome report felt like i was in the boat with you! sounds like a great session well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjc123 Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Nice work mate! Some cracker holes around the bantry area... Pulled out of a big jew on light gear this afternoon... Pulled the hooks on him meters from shore.... Lovely little jew! Well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginko Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 onya mr squid! great report, and great to hear you got one in the boat again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adzo64 Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Awesome report mate! Well done. Would love to experience that one day. Any suggestions on some squid spots in that area to get some fresh bait?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davegroves68 Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Great report, and well done on the Jew. I used your report as inspiration for my session on Saturday ngt. It worked 3 good Jews It seems Middle harbour at ngt is the place to be. With tide and the right bait. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erroll Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Now that's a report,,,, Well done mate. Great result for your hard work. I know the feeling when it gets to twelve and you think why bother going to sleep! That takes dedication Cheers Erroll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griffox Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Spot on! On a roll dude! Leave some for the rest of us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinsoi Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Great report mate and well done on a fine catch You deserved that for sure with all your hard efforts. And yes I also felt like I was in the boat with you sharing the moments (many of them) as I was reading your top post! Keep up the nice work buddy. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docfitz Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Great report - enjoyable read!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques.va Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Great report, we were out pretty close to you and had some fun with the kings. Looks like you had loads of success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keng-lee Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 sweet jewy bro i meet u at ur squid grounds sure to see more jewy posts soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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